Drought stress promotes the colonization success of a herbivorous mite that manipulates plant defenses.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is expected to bring longer periods of drought and this may affect the plant's ability to resist pests. We assessed if water deficit affects the tomato russet mite (TRM; Aculops lycopersici), a key tomato-pest. TRM thrives on tomato by suppressing the plant's jamonate defenses while these defenses typically are modulated by drought stress. We observed that the TRM population grows faster and causes more damage on drought-stressed plants. To explain this observation we measured several nutrients, phytohormones, defense-gene expression and the activity of defensive proteins in plants with or without drought stress or TRM. TRM increased the levels of total protein and several free amino acids. It also promoted the SA-response and upregulated the accumulation of jasmonates but d

SUBMITTER: Ximenez-Embun MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5727147 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature